Comparative study between St. Jude Medical and bioprosthetic valves in the right side of the heart

Comparative long-term performance characteristics of St. Jude Medical (SJM) and bioprosthetic valves were conducted retrospectively for patients who underwent prosthetic valve replacement in the right side of the heart from 1975 to 1988. Fifty-four patients received either SJM (n = 18) or bioprosthetic (n = 37) valves. The cumulative follow-up for SJM valves was 91 valves-years (range 3.9 to 7.2 years) and that for bioprostheses was 282 valve-years (range 1.3 to 14.8 years). Follow-up rate was 100%. The actuarial survival rate excluding hospital deaths at 5 years was 81 +/- 10% for SJM and 97 +/- 3% for bioprosthetic valve recipients (p = ns). The rates of freedom from thrombosis or anticoagulant-related hemorrhage, structural valve failure, prosthetic valve endocarditis, reoperation, and overall valve-related complications at 5 years were 72 +/- 11%, 100%, 100%, 83 +/- 9%, and 72 +/- 11% for SJM valve recipients, and 100%, 97 +/- 3%, 97 +/- 3%, 94 +/- 4%, and 94 +/- 4% for bioprosthetic valve recipients, respectively. Structural valve failure, prosthetic valve endocarditis and reoperations occurred at a similar incidence in each of the two types of prostheses. Thrombosis and overall valve-related events occurred more frequently in SJM valve recipients (5.5 +/- 2.5 vs 0%/valve-year; p less than 0.02, 6.6 +/- 2.7 vs 1.1 +/- 0.6 %/valve-year; p less than 0.03, respectively). The bioprosthetic valve which did not need warfarin anticoagulation therapy had low incidence of valve-related complications and showed good long-term durability even in the younger age group. The bioprosthetic valve was superior to the SJM valve in the right side of the heart.